Metal halide lasers, such as mercury halide, zinc halide and cadmium halide, require high temperature operation and must be excited by electrical discharges with ultrafast current pulses and very high peak current. These specifications require low inductance laser tube designs suitable for high temperature operation.
These electrical requirements can be easily accommodated for low temperature, i.e., room temperature, laser operation by inserting low inductance capacitors across the laser electrodes. This technique is not compatible with the chemically corrosive laser gas media of metal halide lasers operating at pressures exceeding atmospheric pressure and temperatures of up to 600.degree. C.